Star Trek Beyond : Kirk's moping

I almost made the subject line "Kirk's Pining", but I didn't think that pun really made any sense.

Anyway, I didn't really care for Kirk being so melancholy and self reflective in this movie. It reminded me of his moping around about being old in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Nothing wrong with that, except this Chris Pine version seems too young and too close to the beginning of his career to be asking these kinds of questions. Seems like he should still be more gung ho and idealistic.

You need to take into consideration that the original Kirk and this new Kirk had very different upbringings, their lives were so different from each other and they had very different life experiences. Unlike the original Kirk, Chris Pine's Kirk lost his father at birth, George Kirk died saving his crew on the USS Kelvin, and his death was a huge impact on Jim Kirk and it undoubtedly affected Kirk personally as he grew up. I think his father's death had always been a very touchy subject for Kirk to talk about, and in Beyond, Kirk realises that he is now 1 year older than his father was when he died, it's understandable that his birthday and this realisation reminded him of his father's death and caused him to start questioning his purpose in Starfleet. So I think in that context, Kirk's self-reflection and self-reevaluation in the movie made sense.

It's been three years on this 5 year mission so its logical that emotions and the strain of being stuck on a spaceship for extended period of time would have its affect on the crew.

When one surpasses their goal/objective they wonder what is next for them? Did they makd the right choice? Why did they choose this path?
That's what kirk goes through at the start, he probably thought he wasn't even going to get to be a year older than his father got to be. That can have a huge empact on someone, but he realizes throughout the course why he joined star fleet and why he became captain. It may have started out as a dare to join but it's become his home his family that he never really had growing up.

In the end we get the kirk we all know and love.

"Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions"

I guess banging hot strange every night won't cure Kirks mopey mood

I thought Kirk grew out of his womanising ways considering we don't see him flirting with women in the movies anymore? Kirk has matured a lot as a person since the first movie and I thought he had matured in that aspect too. If the Kirk in Beyond was still the same immature Kirk in the first movie, then I'm sure he would've tried to flirt with Jaylah or maybe even Kalara in the movie, but he didn't. In Beyond he showed an incredible amount of restraint when it came to women, his attitude towards women has changed throughout the movies and he now seems to respect women more. In the first movie, Kirk tried to flirt with Uhura at every chance he got until he learned that she is dating Spock, then in Into Darkness he flirted with Carol. But now in Beyond, he did not even try to flirt or show any sort of romantic interest in Jaylah or Kalara at all, his behavior towards Jaylah was purely platonic and that of respect, and Kalara, well he believed her at first until he suspected she lied to him. You can see Kirk's attitude towards women has gradually changed throughout the movies, in many ways he is not the same immature and flirty Kirk he was in the first movie anymore.